High speed communication systems capable of higher throughput data rates are emerging. Gigabit Ethernet networks may communicate information at 1 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) or higher over high speed channels. Different Ethernet protocols exist such as those as defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 series of standards. For example, a recent protocol is the IEEE Proposed Standard 802.3an titled “IEEE Standard For Information Technology—Telecommunications and information exchange between systems—Local and metropolitan networks—Specific requirements Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications: Amendment: Physical Layer and Management Parameters for 10 Gb/s Type 10GBASE-T,” Draft Amendment P802.3an/Draft 3.1, 2005 (“10GBASE-T Specification”). In addition to Ethernet communication, other communication systems that operate in full duplex mode include digital subscriber lines (DSL) such as asynchronous DSL (ADSL).
These high speed channel, typically realize a corresponding decrease in signal to noise ratio, which might cause higher error rates. Techniques such as forward error correction may be used to decrease the error rates. Such techniques, however, may require a communication system to communicate additional overhead in the form of error correcting information and include additional components. Further, these protocols have certain schemes to control transmission of signals at desired power levels, in efforts to reduce power consumption. However, changing power levels can cause various components to lose convergence and require retraining. For example, a power backoff (PBO) scheme may be used to cause transmit power changes, however, a receiver may be unable to maintain certain mechanisms converged and thus retraining is required under new conditions, although limited timeframes may exist for such retraining.